Pictures--then and now

A few details...


Chinese name: Huai Chunrui
Birthdate:  06/12/06
He was born with club feet which he has already had multiple surgeries for.
He is fortunate to be living at a Christian, American-run orphanage for special needs children called the Phillip Hayden Foundation (a very worthy charity). The nannies that take care of him are Chinese and speak Chinese, but he surely has spent time with some English-speaking people there too. We're told that the Chinese nannies call him Rui, but his nickname with the Americans there is Jacob Jai or JJ. We will name him Calvin Jacob Jai Rowenhorst.
We sponsored Calvin and began pursuing his adoption in early 2009. The story of that and Charlie's subsequent adoption is for another post. It's been a long time coming, but God is faithful.

This one of the first pictures we saw of Calvin:

And this is a fairly recent picture:

Here it is--Us Plus Six--you had to know it was coming!
A blog seems to be the best way to share an experience like adoption with all of our friends and family, so here goes.
International adoption is volumes of paperwork, waiting, dealing with government agencies, waiting, and did I mention waiting? But... it is also having a picture of an awkward child in a funny sweater from the other side of the world and loving that child more than you even thought possible, longing for the day when you will bring him home. It is meeting him for the first time and hugging him long enough to know that you're not dreaming. It is a new family and an orphan restored to a son.
For the purpose of this blog, we have skipped the boring paperwork and long waiting. As I write this, we anticipate our travel assignment any day now and will likely be on a plane within a few weeks of that (so we're very close!!). I will write additional posts as events unfold and will probably post everyday while in China if possible. Thanks for caring about our family and following along.

Life as we know it is beginning to fade to the background as we anticipate our son coming home, and even though there are surely tough times ahead--in our world, we will celebrate this blessing and answer to prayer.